


Sins, not Tragedies

by Fayzian



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alcohol Abuse, Awkward Crush, Drunken Kissing, F/F, F/M, Flirting, Fluff and Crack, Getting Together, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mutual Pining, Party Games, Slytherins Being Slytherins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 08:53:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12317760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fayzian/pseuds/Fayzian
Summary: That one time when Pansy was distracted by a bushy-haired girl. Featuring skinny-dipping, awkward kissing and an awful amount of alcohol.





	Sins, not Tragedies

**Author's Note:**

> This messy fic was born from long, boring afternoons, so don't blame it on me if it is too !  
> it was beta'd by batrisakapadiablog on Tumblr and i want to thank her for putting up with my awful work !  
> It goes without saying that I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters and/or universe.  
> Hope you enjoy it !

A dark figure was creeping through the unlit hallways, a shadow remaining unnoticed. She liked to think she was as swift and agile as a burglar. That offered her a sort of comfort, knowing she was not only a pretty face and could use her lean body the way she wanted.  
A quiet sound behind her informed her that she was being followed. She eased in a dark corner, trying to lose the person foolish enough to trail her when…  
“Parkinson, what do you think you’re doing ?” asked a cold voice.  
A chill crept its way up her spine, she could feel drops of sweat running down the back of her neck. She turned around and spotted the Head Girl’s shiny badge even before Hermione Granger’s bushy hair. Pansy scowled at her smirk.  
“If I’m lucky, you,” she said, instantly regaining her composure and placating her usual confident smile on her face.  
The other witch had the decency to blush, although she managed a half-hearted annoyed frown.  
“Do you seriously flirt with everyone ?”  
“Oh no !” assured Pansy. “Only with hot girls.”  
Hermione was at a loss for words which, Pansy thought, didn’t seem to happen often. She mentally patted herself on the back, proud for having the greatest witch of her age outsmarted to the point where she didn’t know what to answer.  
Finally, the bushy-haired girl seemed to pull herself together, just when the Slytherin was starting to wonder if she had truly broken her.  
“So, what are you really doing out here ? Aren’t you patrolling near the kitchens ?” asked the witch, changing the subject.  
“I was actually looking for you. Since patrol is almost over, I wanted to see if you would let yourself be tempted by a cup of tea before we retreat to our dorms.”  
Hermione seemed to hesitate.  
“Fine,” she finally agreed. “Although I’d prefer Firewhiskey ; N.E.W.Ts are starting to get the better of me, especially since I broke up with Ron.”  
“I’ll see what I can do,” winked the raven-haired girl. “But didn’t you dump him in July ?”  
The Gryffindor stopped walking to stare at her friend.  
“Well, yes, I started working on my N.E.WTs mid-June !”  
“You’re unbelievable,” snorted Pansy.  
Together, the two girls walked towards the stairs, chatting comfortably.  
If someone had told Pansy Parkinson at the start of term that only two months from then she’d be friends with Hermione “Know-It-All Mudblood” Granger, she’d have laughed at their face. But, funnily enough, their friendship had come quite naturally. Hermione had never really had girl friends her age and Pansy’s femininity was refreshing to her ; she loved Harry and Ron deeply, but they could sometimes be really thick, especially when it came to her problems. Pansy was hard-working, a quality Hermione valued immensely, especially since it meant she wasn’t using her to get good grades. The bushy-haired girl discovered that she loved gossiping while working and the Slytherin was one impressive source.  
But they weren’t the only ones that had surprisingly befriended. The shared dorms McGonagall had imposed the seventh and returning eighth years had forced everyone to mix with other houses. If the occasional Hufflepuff-Slytherin friendships that could have been seen in the hallways before the war seemed strange, it was nothing compared to the odd relationships that had blossomed during the last two months. It turned out that Gryffindors and Slytherins could, in fact, get along pretty nicely. The recklessness of the formers and cunning minds of the latters worked perfectly when it came to mischief and the Slytherins, being very protective of their own, were discovered to be incredibly loyal friends. The real surprise, though, had been when Gryffindor’s very own Golden Boy and Saviour of the Wizarding World had been discovered sleeping in the Slytherin’s Ice Prince arms on the couch of the common room one morning, after having fallen asleep while cuddling late at night. This had been a trigger and, soon enough, inter-house couples were a dream come true for the Headmistress - or a nightmare. She had had to reinforce the patrols at night to keep the younger, underaged students from fooling around in disused classrooms, or the Room of Requirement. Pansy had even heard rumours of frights among students and visits to Madam Pomfrey after “unprotected intercourse”.  
Pansy and Hermione finally arrived in the prefects’ bathroom, which had become their headquarters when they wanted privacy or to relax. The Gryffindor girl particularly liked it at night. The dim light coming from the stained-glass windows created an eerie atmosphere which never ceased to amaze the witch. Furthermore, at this time of the night, the other prefects had all gone to sleep, which meant that Pansy and her had the room all to themselves. For a reason unclear to her, she blushed at the thought, before dismissing it, not wanting to think too much of it.  
Suddenly, the uncanny silence was broken. They heard laughs coming from the backroom. They exchanged a look, because this part of the bathroom was never used since the bath was more of a pool than anything else and was far too big to fill entirely quickly. They silently made their way towards the door to figure out who would hang out near a disused bath. As they got nearer, the laughs got louder and music and splashes of water could be heard over the voices.  
A rather large group of teenagers was in the room ; some were swimming in the bath, which had been filled to overflowing, but most of them were in a circle on the ground. They turned out to be the eighth-year Pansy and Hermione were friends with.  
“‘Mione !” exclaimed Harry Potter when he saw her entering. He stood up from his seat on Draco Malfoy’s lap and stumbled towards her. “Please, don’t give us detention ! Join us, we’re having fun !”  
There was a slur in his voice that unmistakably meant…  
“Potter, are you drunk ?” Pansy asked, incredulous.  
Harry’s eyes lost focus for a moment, which only confirmed what the two girls had guessed.  
“Barely,” he tried to defend himself, but the way he all but collapsed onto Draco instead of sitting down contradicted him.  
“Can someone please explain what the hell is going on here ?” asked Hermione, her tone somewhat edgy and the Head Girl’s badge shining brighter on her chest. “Draco, how could you allow that ? Weren’t you supposed to be on Head Boy’s duties tonight ?”  
Everyone stopped talking, realising that she was only a minute away from giving all of them detention.  
“I was !” the Slytherin said. “I didn’t allow anything either, I just arrived!”  
“We just wanted to have fun and think of something other than our N.E.W.Ts,” said Seamus Finnigan tentatively, scowling at Draco because of his lack of support. “Here, sit down and have a drink,” he offered, holding out a glass filled with Firewhiskey.  
“Come on Granger, you know you need it,” Pansy whispered, behind her. “Your homework and duties will still be here tomorrow anyway.”  
“Back to calling me Granger, Parkinson ?” she asked, an eyebrow raised as she sat down and took the glass Seamus handed her. Everyone let out a sigh of relief as she downed her drink in one gulp and refilled it immediately, relishing in the pleasant burn of the alcohol inside her. Pansy sat next to her and everyone resumed their conversations.  
After a few more Firewhiskeys, Hermione felt more relaxed and, to her delight, pleasantly tipsy. She got up to dance, dragging Pansy along with her. The raven-haired girl let herself be led to the dancefloor, slid her arms around her friend’s neck and, together, they moved to the rhythm of the music. Hermione closed her eyes and her mind wandered elsewhere, above the sky and under the sea, beyond everything known to mankind and … in the arms of Pansy Parkinson.  
Suddenly, she wasn’t on the floor anymore, she was flying. Some part of her wondered how that could be possible, but she was drowning in her bliss.  
Except that she didn’t feel Pansy’s arms around her, which in itself felt terribly wrong, and, if she listened closely, it wasn’t the wind she was hearing but hers and her friend’s screams. She opened her eyes and could distinctly see the floor of the prefects’ bathroom and feel a pair of hands holding her back while she was roughly and rudely thrown over Seamus’ shoulder.  
She understood in a second what was happening.  
“Shay, no ! Stop, please, I’m dressed !” she howled. “I swear to Godrick, if you do it I’ll…”  
But exactly what she would do to the Irish boy they never knew, because he had thrown her in the bath at that moment and water filled her mouth. She fought to get back to the surface but couldn’t find it. As she struggled against the litres of water, she felt a hand. She gripped it tight and it dragged her out of the water. As soon as she breached the surface, she inhaled deeply, relishing in the feeling of oxygen in her lungs.  
The hand that had saved her was now pulling her in familiar arms and she felt Pansy’s chin on the top of her head as the other girl stroked her hair with the hand that was not firmly holding her in place.  
“Shh, now, now, it’s okay,” she reassured her as Hermione coughed her lungs out. “Are you alright ?” She sounded worried.  
“No,” Hermione answered, her voice low and breathy.  
“What’s wrong ? Did your head hit the bottom?”  
“No,” she said again. She breathed in and shouted - “They ruined my robes!”  
Seamus and his best friend, Dean Thomas, were on the edge of the pool, laughing loudly. She swam towards them and splashed them. Seamus let out a high shriek and backed away quickly but he didn’t manage to avoid being soaked. Dean didn’t even try to resist, his white shirt was transparent and his trousers were dripping.  
“Oh, fuck it,” he muttered and took his clothes off, before jumping in the pool, only wearing his briefs.  
Hermione screamed when he swam underwater towards her, grabbing her waist as he passed and dragging her with him. For the second time in a few minutes, her mouth filled with water and the laugh she let out sounded more like a gargle.  
They emerged at the other hand of the bath, right under the taps.  
“I’ll kill you, Dean Thomas,” Hermione growled.  
“Not if you can’t catch me,” he answered, splashing her and swimming away.  
“It’s not over yet, Thomas !” she screamed at his retreating back.  
The water running from the taps was flowing down her back. She relished in the relaxing sensation of the torrent on her tensed muscles. She didn’t hear Pansy coming to stand next to her.  
“Wanna get a revenge ?”  
Hermione started at the sound of her voice and then grinned.  
“What do you have in mind ?” she asked, devilishly.  
Pansy explained her plan and, the more she said, the wider Hermione’s grin was growing.  
Once everything was clear, both girls got out of the bath, about thirty feet from where Seamus was standing, watching Dean swim with a dreamy expression. He didn’t seem to notice them as they took off their school robes, skirts and ties. Hermione silently moved closer to the Irish boy. When she was right behind him, she threw her robes on him. She took advantage of his surprise and momentary blindness to push him in the pool. Dean instantly rushed to help his friend disentangle himself from the cloth.  
At that exact moment, Pansy, making the most of their distraction, jumped in the water and landed on Dean’s back, making him topple over. Seamus shrieked again, trying to defend his best friend, but Hermione dived next to him and pulled on his legs underwater, making him fall over. After a few more struggles and drowning, they were all re-emerging and breathing again.  
“Let’s call it even, okay ?” Seamus panted.  
Somehow, his shirt had opened and was hanging off his shoulders and Dean was staring at his uncovered chest.  
“You’re afraid Finnigan ?” Pansy laughed.  
“Of you ? Nah ! But Head Girl over there ? I didn’t know she had it in her, she terrifies me!”  
“I seem to recall you finding me annoying and boring a few years ago !” the bushy-haired girl teased.  
“That was before you befriended Slytherins, you hadn’t reached your highest potential yet!” justified the Irish boy.  
They all laughed, attracting the attention of those still dry and sitting in a circle.  
“I don’t know about you,” Dean spoke up, “but I’m starting to get rather cold. How about we dry ourselves and have a drink to inter-house bonding ?”  
They all agreed and slowly swam towards the edge of the pool, but Hermione didn’t resist going a last time underwater, dragging with her Pansy, who let out a surprised yelp. They were facing each other, their hair floating around them like a halo, their shirts hanging open uselessly. They were close, really close. Pansy let out a small puff, creating a bubble which brushed Hermione’s lips. The Gryffindor opened her mouth, feeling dizzy, and blew gently in turn, creating a bubble which brushed her friend’s lips. Pansy’s heart skipped a beat at the small tickling feeling. Slowly, the girls floated closer to one another, their mouths inches from each other. Pansy brushed her lower lip against Hermione’s upper lip, whose breath hitched.  
Sadly, neither of them had oxygen in their lungs anymore, so Hermione gave a strong push to the bottom of the bath and rose to the surface. A second later, Pansy joined her, panting, but her gaze still fixed on her and her mouth. Once again, they drew closer, almost kissing when…  
“Pansy, Hermione ! Come on, we want to play a game !” called Draco.  
Reluctantly, they parted and got out of the bath. Pansy glanced at Hermione, but her expression was unreadable. As they sat down next to one another, she was far too wary of each part of her body that touched the Gryffindor.  
“What are we playing ?” inquired the bushy-haired girl, and Pansy’s eyes were transfixed by her as she spoke.  
“Some of us are way too sober for ‘Truth or Dare’, so we’ll go with ‘Never Have I Ever’,” said Theodore Nott.  
The raven-haired girl scowled ; she knew her fellow Slytherins and had already witnessed many times how they were able to dig deeply-buried secrets with this game. Of course, the witch didn’t claim she was any different from them ; it just so happened at the time that she may have had something she wanted to remain secret. She didn’t like the way Theo and Blaise Zabini whispered among themselves.  
“We’re playing the Slytherin version of the game,” explained Blaise aloud. “Meaning that you’ll feel compelled to drink when you’ve done the thing enunciated. This way, we’re ensuring that no one is lying and that we’re all on equal footing. Anyone got any question ?”  
“Yeah, who starts ?” asked Neville Longbottom.  
“The one dumb enough to ask,” replied Blaise, winking.  
Neville immediately blushed and looked down at his drink, looking for inspiration.  
“Never have I ever snogged someone in public.”  
Pansy sneered at how softly the game started. There were a few snickers among the other Slytherins.  
“How very pure of you,” snorted Draco, as he drank and everyone else followed, except Neville, of course.  
Next was Dean.  
“Never have I ever kissed someone of the same sex.”  
Pansy noticed that Hermione drank and wondered if their almost-kiss counted - she wouldn’t know, it wasn’t the first time she had kissed a girl. She hoped against hope that it didn’t count and that Hermione had kissed other girls, which would probably mean that she was into girls, or at least, Pansy thought.  
While the raven-haired girl was having her small internal crisis, people in the circle were staring uneasily at Dean.  
“What ?” he asked, curious.  
Blaise chuckled nervously. Pansy frowned at that, Blaise was never nervous. It was all an act.  
“Nothing, it’s just that…,” he started, glancing at Theo, his eyebrows raised in a silent question.  
“We thought that you and Finnigan were a thing,” blurted Theo.  
That bit was true : Pansy knew about a few bets about it, she herself had even wagered a dozen Galleons that they would get together by the end of first term.  
Dean opened his mouth in surprise.  
“Shay and me ?” he asked, surprised.  
Pansy started when she felt a hot breath on her ear.  
“They would make sense as a couple though, wouldn’t they ?” Hermione murmured.  
The Slytherin’s eyelids fluttered close and her breath hitched.  
“Yes,” she sighed, her voice not more than a whisper, not daring to move.  
“They’d just need a little help from us…” Pansy could feel her friend’s grin without even looking at her. She nodded eagerly, the thought of her and the other witch working together paving the way for wild fantasies.  
Meanwhile, Dean kept mumbling and blushing for a while, assuring his friend and him were “only best mates”, Seamus staring at him with an unreadable expression.  
“Never have I ever had a crush on someone in the circle,” he said in a curious tone, still eyeing Dean as he drank himself.  
Pansy downed her glass and was pleased to see Hermione drink while avoiding making eye-contact with anyone, especially her. Dean also drank, followed by Ron, Harry, Draco, Neville, Parvati and Lavender.  
“Not that I’m bored, but how about we finally get this game started ?” Blaise smirked. “Let’s see who’s going to end up pissed tonight. Never have I ever shagged someone.”  
Nearly everyone drank. Mandy Brocklehurst, a Ravenclaw, didn’t drink and neither did Ron, which didn’t seem to surprise Hermione but came as a surprise to everyone else when they noticed she did.  
“Who did you shag ?” asked Ron, almost accusingly.  
“None of your business,” she said, downing her glass.  
Meanwhile, Neville was being questioned by Blaise and Theo because he, too, had apparently shagged someone. The biggest surprises, though, were Dean and Seamus, especially since apparently neither of them knew the other had had sex.  
“Now, now,” Draco intervened, cutting short the different interrogations. “Stop with the questions ! If you want to know something, phrase it so it fits the game when it’s your turn !”  
Blaise glared at him but left a very flustered Neville alone.  
“Never have I ever shagged more than one person,” Theo said before downing his drink.  
Without surprise, Blaise, Pansy and Draco had. Hermione had too, which earned her a few questioning looks but no one dared ask anything. Seamus drank but Dean didn’t. Neville drank and so did Harry, Parvati and Lavender.  
“Interesting…,” commented Draco. “Never have I ever shagged someone of the same sex.”  
He and Harry obviously both had and they smirked at one another. Blaise drank, Pansy followed. Seamus sipped his Firewhiskey, trying to be discreet and Neville took advantage of everyone’s attention being turned to Hermione who had downed her glass to drink.  
“‘Mione ?” Ron mumbled, seemingly lost.  
Hermione blushed but didn’t say anything. Pansy tried to catch her gaze but the other witch avoided looking at her. The Slytherin’s heart was pounding in her chest. Was Hermione into girls ? Did she actually have a chance? She didn’t dare hope.  
The tension in the circle was tangible. Everyone knew that they were minutes away from digging up some of the best stories Hogwarts had ever witnessed.  
“I don’t have any ideas,” Harry complained when Blaise pressed him to take his turn. He looked at his friends, as if expecting them to give him inspiration. Finally, his eyes fell on Ron.  
“Sorry mate. Never have I ever shagged a Weasley,” he said before drinking.  
To everyone’s surprise, he was not the only one. Hermione blushed and then drank. Seamus drank. Dean drank. Neville drank.  
“I didn’t expect so many people to drink,” Harry laughed as both Parvati and Lavender downed their glasses.  
“Wait !” Blaise exclaimed, his voice taking a conspiratorial tone. “You,” he said, pointing at Dean, “have only shagged one girl, meaning it was the Weaselette.”  
Hermione coughed and Blaise corrected himself :  
“I mean, Ginny.”  
Dean nodded, confirming his reasoning.  
“When?” asked Ron harshly.  
“I went out with her, remember ?” replied Dean softly.  
Ron was red, but nodded, calming slightly.  
Blaise ignored the both of them and went on with his “who did the Gryffindors shag” investigation.  
“You,” he said, turning to Harry, “went out with her, too, so I’m guessing you shagged her ?”  
“Duh !” Harry said, childishly, before letting his head fall on Draco’s shoulder who wrapped an arm around him.  
“Now this is where it gets tricky,” Blaise kept going, “because both Patil and Brown have had sex with girls, but they could have had sex with boys, too. Same goes for Granger. And Longbottom and Finnigan could have shagged girls, too, so only one way to solve this. Pans ?”  
Pansy sighed. Blaise always got all detective-like when he was drunk and she hated when he pushed her to play along.  
“Never have I ever shagged someone of the opposite sex,” she said before putting her glass down, leaving it untouched.  
Parvati and Lavender drank. Seamus drank. Neville followed. Hermione didn’t.  
“You slept with Ginny, too ?” Ron exclaimed, addressing his ex-girlfriend.  
Seamus, who was far too drunk to really pay attention thought Ron was talking to him and nodded.  
“What, you too ?” Ron cried. “When ?”  
“Last year,” the irish boy shrugged. “It was something we both needed to take our minds off the war, if only for an hour or two a week.”  
Ron almost choked at this, but one glance at Hermione made him forget all about the other boy.  
“And you ?” he almost whined.  
Hermione hesitated, and Pansy realised she was weighing what to reveal and what to keep to herself. She understood the other girl’s dilemma : she hadn’t really been on the best of terms with her ex-boyfriend lately, but he still remained one of her oldest friends and they had been through so many things together that she must have felt that she owed him the truth.  
“Before you ask, it happened a few times,” she started.  
“How many times ?” he insisted, through gritted teeth.  
“I’m not sure exactly,” the bushy-haired girl shrugged. “It happened for the first time during a Christmas at the Burrow. Our sixth year.” She ignored his wince and went on : “It kept happening regularly, obviously stopping when she was dating someone else, or when I was. It happened for the last time at the start of term.”  
Ron was as red as his hair now and, aside from looking like he was about to choke, he seemed downright angry.  
“Weasley, is there anything you’d like to say ?” growled Blaise before the redhead could say anything.  
He opened his mouth, undoubtedly to lash out but one look at everyone else in the circle made him realise they were all glaring at him, so he backed out and shook his head begrudgingly.  
“Hermione, you’re up,” said Blaise gently.  
The bushy-haired girl eyed Neville, Parvati and Lavender and curiosity overtook her. Ignoring Ron, who was fuming not far from her, she said :  
“Never have I ever shagged George Weasley.”  
Parvati and Lavender both drank, giggling drunkenly, which meant only Neville’s secret Weasley shag remained to be found. The boy was crimson.  
“Never have I ever shagged Fred Weasley,” said Tracey Davis who was sitting next to Hermione.  
Neville still didn’t touch his drink, but Parvati and Lavender surprised everyone when they picked up theirs and gulped down a few mouthfuls.  
Before anyone could comment on that, Neville spoke up :  
“Fine, stop trying to guess ! I don’t want anyone to hint I may have slept with Percy, because I haven’t! I slept with Charlie, okay ? It happened once and it didn’t mean anything. Now, please, stop taunting me !”  
“Oh, but, Nev, we will never stop taunting you !” laughed Blaise and the poor boy blushed once again.  
“Next !” he cried, desperately seeking a change of subject.  
“I don’t know about you,” started Justin Finch-Fletchley, stopping hitting on Tracey for the first time since the beginning of the game,” but I’m curious about those two.” He gestured at the giggling Parvati and Lavender.  
“So… Never have I ever had a foursome.”  
His suspicions were confirmed when, between fits of laughter, the two girls reached for their glass, spilling Firewhiskey on their robes.  
“Parvati, Lav, you have to explain !” Seamus exclaimed.  
Lavender was far too drunk to phrase coherent thoughts, so Parvati took it upon herself to enlighten them :  
“It was at the end of fifth year. We were celebrating Umbridge’s departure with a bottle of Firewhiskey or two and things escalated. They came, like, four times each and, when they fell asleep, Lav and I kept going at it. That was easily the best shag ever!”  
There were a few questions, which Parvati answered with loads of details. (“No, I don’t remember anything remotely incestious happening!”) And then, Ernie McMillan took his turn.  
“Since we’re on the subject : never have I ever had a threesome.”  
There were a few snickers among the Slytherins as Blaise, Theo and Draco drank, the latter shooting apologetic looks to his boyfriend.  
“Does this mean what I think this means ?” Ernie asked.  
“It does,” Blaise smirked.  
Pansy looked at Harry but she noticed he didn’t seem surprise, only a bit possessive, since he had wrapped his arms around Draco.  
“Never have I ever walked in on someone who was shagging,” said Ron.  
Pansy and Hermione both drank and smirked at each other. Lavender downed her drink, laid her head on Parvati’s shoulder and fell asleep, as her friend sipped from her Firewhiskey. Neville, Seamus, Dean, Blaise and Theo also drank.  
“Let me guess,” said Hermione. “You’ve also had troubles with those shared dorms ?”  
“We did, and not just once,” laughed Dean. “I’m guessing you too. Who was it?”  
“Luna and Gin,” said Hermione. “It made quite a show,” she added, ignoring Ron’s choked “my sister.” “And you?”  
“Those two.” He pointed at Harry and Draco, who didn’t look ashamed in the slightest. “They regularly forget their privacy wards…”  
“Sorry, mate,” Harry said, not looking the least sorry. “But, you know how it is, in the heat of the moment…”  
“Next !” shouted Hermione, cutting him off.  
“Never have I ever gone down on anyone,” said Parvati, since Lavender was fast asleep, and drank.  
“Oh, Dean, you haven’t?” Seamus commented. “Well, the night is still young !” He downed his drink.  
If Dean had been drinking, he would have spit it out. Hermione did, at least.  
Pansy was growing more and more surprised as the game went. At first, she had been wondering if Hermione was into girls at all and now she was questioning whether she ever liked boys. Of course, she had dated Ron after the war, but Hermione had confessed once that he wasn’t her first experience contrarily to what he believed and that she had only agreed to go out with him because she felt compelled to, after such a long friendship. She had broken up with him fairly quickly, at the end of July and Pansy suspected that she hadn’t been entirely faithful during the two months their relationship had lasted.  
As she discovered the numerous things the other witch had done with girls, ideas were looming in Pansy’s mind like, for example, going down on her… Or, maybe, she thought as she watched Hermione’s lips closing in around the neck of the bottle of Firewhiskey, she could use the talkative girl’s full lips to her advantage and get her to go down on her.  
She tuned out the game for a while, letting her mind meander somewhere between the Gryffindor’s thighs.  
She came back to reality when she felt compelled to drink without having heard what had been said. Hermione looked at her, shocked.  
“Pansy !” she exclaimed, indignant.  
“I’m sorry, I dozed off. What have I done ?” she asked, wary.  
Hannah Abbott cleared her throat shyly before speaking up :  
“I said : ‘Never have I ever gotten off while spying on one of my dorm-mates getting off’ and er, you drank…”  
“That’s awfully specific,” the Slytherin mumbled as she gulped down her glass, half because of the compulsion acting again, but also because she didn’t feel drunk enough to face this.  
“Well, Pans, I knew you liked your fair share of voyeurism like anyone but I didn’t know that you had a fucking kink!” Draco commented, sneering. “I don’t suppose you’d tell us who it was ?”  
“I don’t have a kink !” she protested half-heartedly. “And, no I won’t tell you, go to Hell !”  
“My, my, no need to get all flustered, darling. I was merely being curious !” her friend teased.  
“I am not flustered,” she pouted, knowing full well he was right.  
There was a silence, broken by Blaise :  
“How about we switch to Truth or Dare ? This is getting boring…”  
A few people nodded, but Ron stood up.  
“I’m calling it a night,” he said. “Harry, ‘Mione ? I don’t suppose you’d care to join me ?”  
Harry shook his head immediately, snuggling Draco’s shoulder. Hermione hesitated for a while, shot a glance at Pansy and said, without looking at him :  
“I don’t think I will yet, Ron. Good night, though.”  
“I’m coming with you,” Mandy Brocklehurst chimed in with a grin. She had been staring at him throughout the game and there was no doubt as to why she wanted to leave now.  
They left together and, once they were gone, there were fifteen remaining eighth-year : nine boys ( Harry, Draco, Blaise, Theo, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Ernie and Justin) and six girls (Hermione, Pansy, Parvati, Tracey, Hannah and Padma Patil), plus a sleeping Lavender. Hermione was pleased to see that everyone was mixing, not caring about house rivalries and former friendships. It was finally decided that they would play using Blaise’s wand.  
“The last person who’s played spins the wand and asks “Truth or dare?” to the person the wand lands on. You can switch to truth if you don’t want to do the dare but then you have to answer and vice versa. The wand is bewitched to incite the person it lands on to be truthful, but it can of course be fought, seeing as it is not as powerful as Veritaserum. Now, since Hannah was the last one to play, Nev will start spinning the wand.”  
“Why is it always me ?” whined the Gryffindor as he reached for the wand and spun it.  
It landed on Tracey who chose truth without hesitation.  
“Have you noticed Justin has been flirting with you since the beginning of the evening ?” Neville asked with a conniving smile.  
Justin lowered his head, avoiding the Slytherin’s gaze.  
“Why, yes, I’ve been flirting back!” she exclaimed, the compulsion drawing the words out of her mouth.  
The Muggleborn looked up, hopeful.  
“Really ?”  
Tracey nodded and they stared into each other’s eyes without moving. After a minute, someone coughed. It seemed to catch their attention and they both looked around, blushing profusely.  
The short girl spun the wand, which pointed at Theo.  
“Dare,” he said boldly.  
Tracey looked thoughtful for a moment, before deciding :  
“Swim around in the pool. Like, do a lap.”  
The boy got up and made to take off his clothes but she stopped him.  
“No, no. With your clothes on.”  
Parvati sighed in disappointment and went back to stroking Lavender’s hair as she slept peacefully. Pansy ignored her friend’s dare and watched the two girls together. She envied them - not that she’d admit it -, she wished that she had someone she could rely on, someone who loved her blindly, someone she could kiss, cuddle and talk about anything with, and, admittedly, someone with whom she could have amazing, regular sex, and not occasional one-night stands. Someone who knew just how to touch her to reduce her to a whimpering and begging mess. Someone who would get her turned on with only a look, … Scratch that, she knew someone who did that already, she thought as she glanced in the direction of Hermione.  
The witch’s hair were still a bit wet from her trip in the pool and, although she had buttoned up her shirt, it remained useless seeing as she could definitely see through it, leaving no doubt as to the underwears the girl was wearing that night - lacy black, very fancy according to Pansy. She was sat with her lean legs folded and, since she hadn’t put her skirt back on, the other witch could get a good look at her panties, which were matching her bra. Pansy almost drooled at the thought of what was under it, but she had to get back to reality because Theo was done with his dare.  
He spun and the wand landed on Dean.  
“Dare,” he said, almost defiant.  
“How very Gryffindor of you,” the other boy snorted.  
“Says the guy who also chose dare,” pointed out the dark-skinned boy.  
Theo opened his mouth to retort but Blaise leaned forward and said something in his ear. The grin that grew on his friend’s face seemed to scare Dean and his expression lost a bit of its usual confidence.  
“I dare you,” Theo paused, maintaining the suspense, “to snog Seamus !”  
Pansy wondered if it was such a good idea, she suspected the two boys had genuine feelings for one another, and maybe forcing them to kiss for a game might scare them off. Sadly, she couldn’t protest without raising suspicions, so she kept her mouth shut. But, as she glanced towards Hermione, she noticed she was not the only one that disapproved of Blaise’s methods.  
Meanwhile, Dean gawped at the two Slytherins.  
“Well, are you cowing down ? Scared of a little dare ?” Blaise provoked him.  
That seemed to get the boy’s attention.  
“What ? No, of course not ! It’s just a kiss, right ? Unless Seamus doesn’t want to, of course…”  
He turned to his best friend, his eyes full of hope, silently begging him to refuse, but the Irish boy didn’t seem to notice, or decided to ignore it.  
“Alright, I’ll do it,” he said, resigned.  
They turned awkwardly, facing one another but none of them wanted to make the first move.  
“Wait!” Blaise stopped them, as they moved closer to one another. “I just want to remind you that, in this game, when you have to snog someone, it has to last at least twenty seconds and tongue is mandatory! Now, please, do go on.”  
Dean looked like he wanted to back out of his dare, but Seamus grabbed his chin gently and crashed their mouths together. At first, the dark-skinned boy was rather stiff, but, from the look of it, his friend soothed him by only brushing their lips at first. Then, he took the other boy’s mouth a bit harsher, actually moving his lips this time.  
“The timer is charmed to only set off when tongue is involved so could you maybe get to it now ?” Blaise intervened, startling them.  
They pulled away from each other for barely a tenth of a second, before Dean leaned over once again, but this time, his mouth was slightly parted and he didn’t hesitate before slipping his tongue in Seamus’ mouth. He moved his hands from where they were awkwardly laying on his knees to the other boy. Dean’s left hand found its way onto the Irish boy’s hip, and he placed his right hand on his neck, drawing them closer together.  
Seamus apparently did something fancy with his tongue, because the dark-skinned boy moaned in his mouth and moved their hips closer. The Irish boy had started stroking his friend’s chest, making him sigh in their kiss. He took advantage of his momentary inattention to trap the other boy’s lower lip between his and gently suck on it. At that moment, the timer rang, and Dean whined - because of the sinful things Seamus was doing to his lip or disappointed because it was already finished, it was hard to tell. Before pulling away, Seamus bit on the lip still stuck between his and ground on it for a few seconds. Finally, they parted, flushed and breathing heavily. They stared into each other’s eyes for an awkwardly long amount of time, their friends not knowing what to say or react.  
At last, Pansy took pity on them and coughed to get their attention. They separated, Dean avoiding everyone’s gaze and Seamus, his chin up, staring defiantly at them, daring them to comment. Still, one couldn’t stop Blaise Zabini when he had decided to do something.  
“So… Thomas. You’re sure you’re not into guys ?”  
“Blaise…,” Pansy growled menacingly.  
“What ? Just having fun, nothing wrong there,” he said innocently.  
“Don’t,” she only replied, trying to get a message across with her eyes only. It only worked in getting Blaise to look at her with a curious expression. She hoped he only read in her face concern and not something akin to dread at having to do the same thing. Finally, her saviour came in the form of Hermione Jean Granger.  
“Dean?” she called him kindly. “Spin the wand, will you ?”  
The boy, without looking up, leaned over and spun the wand. It landed on Pansy.  
“Truth,” she chose, knowing exactly what was coming.  
The Gryffindor finally looked up and stared at her intently.  
“Who did you spy on?” he asked.  
“Dare,” she said, in lieu of an answer.  
“Yeah, I’d figured you wouldn’t want to answer. Had to try it anyway. Well, how about you take three shots? I feel like you’re lagging behind.”  
The raven-haired girl laughed :  
“Yeah, right, excuses. You just hope you’ll end up wearing me out.”  
“Something like that,” he grinned.  
She downed her three shots and reached out for the wand. She felt the alcohol kick in as she did so, but she didn’t let it show, not wanting to let anyone, (Blaise), take advantage of that. The wand pointed at Draco.  
“Dare,” he said.  
“Shagging Gryffindors changed you, Dray,” she mocked him.  
“Gryffindors ? Plural ? Is there something I should be worried about ?” Harry intervened, a twinkle in his emerald-like eyes.  
“‘Course not. Why would I want to shag Gryffindorks commoners when I have their Golden Boy all to myself?”  
His boyfriend slapped him playfully on the thigh, but before he could reply, Pansy intervened :  
“Anyway, Dray, off with your clothes !”  
He arched an immaculate eyebrow at her.  
“All of them? Since when are you interested in masculine bodies?”  
The Slytherin girl scoffed.  
“You’re hardly masculine, darling. And, anyway,” she continued, ignoring his glare, “no, not all of your clothes. If you would be so kind as to keep your underwear on, it would most likely prevent a life-scarring view I’m not ready to face yet.”  
He scowled at her before getting up, still making a show of his little strip-tease. Seamus cat-called, and Harry raised an eyebrow at him.  
“Mine. You can look, not touch,” he smirked, but Pansy noticed that he gulped as Draco’s pale body was revealed even more. Was it drool she saw at the corner of his mouth ?  
Draco winked at Harry as he sat down. The Gryffindor looked up from his boyfriend’s chest, focusing on his face. The blonde licked his lips which caused the other boy’s breath to hitch.  
“Eh Malfoy, fucking stop flirting with your boyfriend and spin the wand for Helga’s sake,” Justin snapped.  
The Slytherin rolled his eyes but kindly obliged, while mumbling something about “drunk Hufflepuffs” and their “bloody Helga”.  
The wand landed on Hannah.  
“Truth,” she said shily.  
“Who do you have a crush on ?” Draco asked, mischievously.  
The red-haired girl blushed and asked to switch to dare. The blonde’s grin only grew wider.  
“How about you kiss whoever you have a crush on ?”  
Trapped, Hannah had no choice but to oblige.  
“Is he even allowed to do that?” Hermione muttered in Pansy’s ear.  
Without detaching her gaze from the blushing Hufflepuff, the raven-haired girl replied :  
“There is no rule against it, sadly.”  
“But that’s horrible, what’s keeping them from simply saying ‘I dare you to tell me who you have a crush on’, then?” the Gryffindor spat, scandalised.  
Pansy turned to her with wide-open eyes.  
“I had never thought of that,” she said, sounding surprised. “That’s a very Slytherin thought you had, ‘Mione. I’m impressed, didn’t know you had it in you.”  
Hermione actually blushed but probably more because she was ashamed of her Slytherin qualities. rather than at being proud of them, Pansy recknoned.  
Meanwhile, Hannah had stood up in the middle of the circle, and, with a dramatic pause no one knew she was capable of, finally leaned over and kissed Neville. What had started as nothing more than a quick peck deepened when the boy finally responded to the kiss. He cupped her cheek with his hand and pushed his tongue between her two parted lips. She let him do it, but pulled away not long after, an apologetic smile on her lips.  
“Sorry Nev, it just doesn’t have the sparkles I expected it to have…”  
She still pecked his lip before sitting back next to him. He looked at her with an unreadable expression while she spun the wand again, before finally shrugging and focusing on the person it was pointing at: Lavender’s sleeping form.  
“What should we do ?” asked Tracey.  
“I don’t know, maybe wake her up ?” Justin suggested.  
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” Parvati protested. “Maybe Han should spin again ?”  
“Hell no !” Blaise intervened. “The wand landed on her ; she has to play. If you don’t wake her up, I will.”  
“Fine,” the dark-haired girl sighed. “Lav ? Lav, wake up, darling.”  
Seeing as her friend didn’t react, she nudged her gently, then a second time harder. Lavender finally opened her eyes, looking a bit disoriented.  
“What’s going on?” she asked in a sleepy voice.  
“We’re playing ‘Truth or Dare’, babe,” Parvati explained softly. “The wand landed on you, you have to play.”  
“Okay, fine. That’s not really fair, I don’t know how far you guys have been yet…,” she complained. “Who spun ?” she inquired, warily.  
Parvati pointed at Hannah.  
“Oh, a Hufflepuff, nice. I’m safe with a dare then, I guess.”  
The red-haired girl, who had watched the exchange intently, grinned.  
“For the record,” she said, smirking mischievously, “never underestimate us badgers. I dare you to go skinny-dipping. It should wake you up alright.”  
The dark-skinned girl stood up and took off her clothes, keeping only her underwears on.  
“Wait !” Pansy exclaimed as she walked towards the pool.  
“What, Parkinson ? Want to join me ?” She winked.  
“No,” the other witch laughed. “Just spin right now, so we don’t have to wait until you’re done !”  
A few people nodded in approval as Lavender obliged. It landed on Hermione, who chose dare.  
“Er… kiss Harry,” Lavender decided and, without even waiting to see their reaction, she walked away.  
“Lav,” Hermione called after her, “you do realise that I’m gay and Harry is like my brother ?”  
Pansy’s heart pounded in her chest. She had the confirmation that Hermione was definitely into girls, and not only sexually. She decided to ignore the reason why it made her so happy and focused on the two Gryffindors’ exchange.  
“Don’t care,” Lavender had replied. “Blame it on my sleepiness ; or drunkenness, really, or both. Either way, don’t blame it on me !” And, turning her back to the group, she took off her bra on the edge of the pool and dropped it there, before diving. A few moments after she reemerged, her panties landed next to it.  
Once they were all very much aware that she was naked in the pool - a fact which aroused Pansy a bit, if she was being completely honest, the eighth-years had turned their attention back to Hermione and Harry and were now looking expectantly at her. She rolled her eyes, before crawling over where her friend was sat.  
“Sorry,” she mumbled grumpily.  
“That’s okay.” He grinned at her, ever so affable - or at least since he had started dating Draco.  
He pursed his lips in an absolutely ridiculous way, which had the merit to make her laugh sufficiently to relax her. When their lips met, it was just as Hermione had imagined it ; awkward, weird and embarrassingly unpleasant. Still, Harry was a good kisser, Hermione had to admit - far better than Ron. But, she thought, as she let him slip his tongue between her parted lips in order to start the timer, she could not forget who she was kissing long enough to actually enjoy it. She at least tried to make it look like it didn’t repulse her and kissed him back, but sighed in relief when the timer rang. She pulled away quickly, to see that her friend was grinning apologetically.  
“Was it that awful ?” he asked, sorry.  
She nodded, embarrassed, but he didn’t seem bothered and pecked her cheek before she went back to her seat.  
“That was the most unappealing kiss we’ve seen so far,” Ernie commented.  
“That was the most unappealing kiss I’ve experienced,” Harry added. “And I’ve snogged Cho Chang, so that says a lot about it…”  
Hermione agreed silently, ignoring the burning sensation Pansy’s lingering eyes on her caused. She spun the wand silently, watching as it slowed down and stopped pointing at Padma Patil.  
“Truth,” she said without hesitation.  
“What is your sexual fantasy ?”  
Every small side-conversations in the circle stopped as everyone listened attentively.  
The Ravenclaw blushed profusely, she lowered her eyes, avoiding everybody else’s gaze. In such a small voice that it was hard to hear, she told them :  
“I am into power play and BDSM. I’ve already done that kind of things, so I can’t really say it’s a fantasy, just something that I really like.”  
Pansy had learnt by now not to judge people by their appearance. But when she saw cute little Padma, always her nose in a book or doing her homework, say that she got off on kinky affairs such as those, she had a hard time believing it. But still, it was true since the brown-skinned girl was under compulsion and, judging by her blush, she may have not been ready to disclose this information.  
“Don’t be ashamed,” Pansy said, before she could stop the words from coming out of her mouth. “You’re brave for being at ease with yourself and what you like, so don’t you dare being ashamed for saying it out loud.”  
Padma seemed moved by the Slytherin’s comforting words.  
“Thank you,” she mouthed.  
Pansy nodded in acknowledgement, and cleared her throat, embarrassed.  
The silence that fell on the circle was thoughtful and easy, although Hermione stared at her friend with an unreadable expression, which was something that had happened a lot during the night. Pansy tried not to read too much in it, but it was really difficult, seeing as she was starting to feel very drunk.  
When Padma spun and when the wand landed on Blaise, they knew she was going to be soft and nice to him, which is why he chose ‘truth’.  
“Who did you lose your virginity to ?”  
Several people looked up in interest. Blaise smirked at the attention. He seemed to think about it for a second, as if he didn’t really know.  
“I seem to recall that it was to Marcus Flint,” he said, sounding unsure. “But let’s not stop the fun here, how about we pause the game and everyone, in turn says who they lost their virginity to, too ?”  
That was an idea that seemed to appeal to everyone.  
“When you say virginity, are you talking about topping or bottoming ?” intervened Draco.  
“Both,” the dark-skinned Slytherin clarified. “It was Marcus Flint as well.”  
Theo started.  
“I think I first bottomed for Draco and topped for you,” he said, looking at Blaise, who nodded.  
“It was Marcus Flint as well,” the blonde drawled next.  
“Another threesome ?” Pansy teased.  
“No, an orgy with the entire Slytherin Quidditch team,” he corrected. At her shock, he scoffed : “No, of course not a threesome, what a stupid question.”  
“It seemed plausible,” she muttered, grumpily.  
Next was Harry, with no surprise :  
“As a top for Ginny and as a bottom for Draco.”  
Everyone turned expectantly to Pansy :  
“It was Luna Lovegood,” she said after a dramatic pause.  
“You slept with Luna?” Draco asked, incredulous. “I don’t believe it, you use to call her Loony in fifth year !”  
“Yeah well, we’re all a bit stupid when we have a crush on someone. You know it better than anyone,” she added with a wink. “Besides, she has a nice arse, I didn’t mind looking for nargles in it…”  
The raven-haired girl knew she should not have said that, but the thrill of her drunkenness was now uncontrollable. Hermione coughed to try and hide her laughter, and everyone else was somewhere between disturbed and amused.  
Changing the subject, Hermione spoke up :  
“It was Ginny, for me.”  
“To Blaise,” Tracey followed.  
“Blaise, how many people did you deflower ?” Seamus asked ironically.  
The dark-skinned boy looked thoughtful for a moment.  
“I don’t really keep tracks of who was a virgin and who wasn’t, but I’d say a bit less than a dozen.”  
Seamus muttered something that sounded a lot like “bloody sex god”, which Blaise obviously heard.  
“You can have a piece of that arse later if you want.” The Slytherin winked.  
“Thanks, but I’ll pass,” the Irish-boy answered, glancing at Dean who didn’t seem to notice.  
Justin then told them he had lost his virginity to Hannah and Ernie to Millicent Bulstrode. At that, Draco raised an eyebrow.  
“Millie ? I thought she was still a virgin, it’s just that, knowing her, I thought she would have bragged about it,” he said at Pansy’s disapproving look.  
“Oh, she did. Just not to you.”  
Lavender was still in the pool, so Parvati answered for her:  
“She lost it to Fred. Or George, I can’t remember. And I lost it to her.”  
“It was to Cho Chang,” Padma told them.  
Ignoring Harry’s cry of surprise, Parvati looked at her.  
“Since when are you into girls ?”  
“I’m not. I experienced a bit, but found out I preferred males. But Cho was still rather sweet.”  
Pansy thought something along the lines of “how can she prefer boys, girls are so sweet, just look at Herm-”, before stopping her train of thought, stubbornly refusing to even think it.  
“To Justin,” Hannah said.  
“Did you guys used to date?” asked Hermione curiously.  
“We did in sixth year,” Justin told her.  
“Didn’t work out, though, so we’re just friends now,” his ex-girlfriend finished.  
“It was er… Charlie,” Neville then spoke. “As a top. And I’ve never actually bottomed.”  
“There’s a beginning for everything.” Blaise winked at the Gryffindor boy who blushed.  
Dean had been deflowered by Ginny, and so had been Seamus as a top, but…  
“I first bottomed for Oliver Wood. Or Lee Jordan, I can’t really remember, there was less than a day of interval.”  
“What is it with Quidditch captains being gay ? Is it required in the job application?” Pansy laughed.  
“Rumors are that Marcus Flint and Oliver Wood are dating so, yes, probably,” Tracey snorted. “And Roger Davies is notoriously pan.”  
On that gay note, the game started again.  
Blaise, who had been last to play, spun the wand, which landed on Justin.  
“Snog Trace,” he said, before the Hufflepuff could choose between truth or dare.  
The boy didn’t even hesitate, he all but launched himself onto the lap of a very eager Tracey. They kissed passionately and fiercely, and it started to become awkward after two very long minutes.  
“Should we interrupt them?” Dean wondered.  
“Why? Because we interrupted you and Seamus ?” Blaise teased. “Let them have their fun, we’ll just play without them.”  
“Yes, but Justin has to spin,” Seamus pointed out.  
“Well, then I’ll play again !” the Slytherin suggested innocently.  
Everyone knew it was a bad idea. They were all aware that he had launched himself into this crazy match-making idea and, although Pansy agreed with it when it came to Tracey and Justin or Dean and Seamus, she did not want to know who he had decided to set her with. Yet, no one stopped him when he spun the wand again and it landed on Seamus.  
“Dare,” he chose tentatively. Bloody Gryffindors and their bloody pride.  
“Seven minutes in heaven with Dean!” Blaise immediately retorted.  
The Irish boy raised an eyebrow.  
“What’s that supposed to mean ?”  
“It’s a Muggle game,” Dean explained. “Two people go into a private place for seven minutes.”  
“That’s it? Well, easy then!” the sand-haired boy scoffed.  
“Yes,” the Slytherin agreed. “Now, remember - what happens in the closet stays in the closet.”  
He then proceeded to shoo them out of the room and into a broom cupboard.  
“Well played, Zabini, what are we supposed to be doing now?” complained Ernie. “Seamus had to spin !”  
Blaise was taken aback, he didn’t seem to have thought of that.  
“I could play again,” he suggested.  
“Nope. No way,” Hermione intervened. “You will not play three times in a row, that’s not fair and I don’t want you to have that much power.”  
“Then what will we do ?” asked Padma.  
“Justin will play,” Hermione decided. “Once he’s done so, he can go back to snogging Tracey, I don’t care.”  
She wordlessly cast a Stinging jinx on the Hufflepuff boy.  
“Ouch!” he cried, as he pulled away from Tracey. He blushed as he saw everyone staring at him expectantly.  
“Was that really necessary?” the Slytherin whinged.  
“It was, believe me,” the bushy-haired witch assured. “Blaise wanted to play for the third time in a row.”  
“How come you let him play twice for a start? Pans, Draco, you know better than that !” the small girl exclaimed.  
“I honestly don’t care,” Draco drawled.  
“What’s your excuse, Pans ?” her friend asked her.  
Pansy looked at her, a bit lost. What had been her excuse She struggled to remember, but everything seemed so blurry and far, so very far from her.  
“She’s pissed,” Hermione said bluntly, answering for her. The raven-haired witch turned to stare at her and her breath hitched at the sight. Had she always been that hot ? Pansy was not sure anymore. She could not remember a time when the mere sight of her friend sent heat between her legs. She tried to blame it on the alcohol, but it was very hard because Hermine occupied such a large place in her thoughts at the time.  
She snapped back to reality to notice that Justin had finally spun the wand, that it had pointed at Ernie and that the boy had apparently been asked to devour Hannah’s neck. When he pulled away from her, Pansy finally understood the dare : he had left a horrendous love bite here, which probably hurt, although the girl seemed positively ecstatic.  
Pansy watched Ernie spin as if she was only half here, barely registered that Theo was asked to do a body shot on one of the Patil twin (Pansy’s eyesight was blurry so she was not sure which one, but her money was on Padma). Her head was spinning horribly and, slowly, the desire to throw up was rising from the pit of her stomach. Finally, as she absently watched Theo lick salt from Padma’s neck, an idea came to her mind.  
“Draco ?” she called him, keeping her voice low. “Do you have your miracle remedy ?”  
He nodded and stood up, silently reassuring Harry, before grabbing Pansy’s reaching hand, helping her stand up and dragging her with him in the other room.  
“We’re coming back,” he said to the group of teenagers watching them curiously. “Keep playing.”  
Once they were alone, he sat her on a bench bordering the edge of the other bath, before taking out his wand, of which he detached a piece of wood, seemingly part of it. It actually was a reservoir, in which he stored what Pansy needed.  
“So, you’re way worse than what you let on, huh ?” he casually inquired, as he emptied it in some sort of long tube. It was a sort of cigarette which never smoked itself completely and was, thus, reusable.  
“I won’t be able to let on much of anything if you don’t give it to me right now because I’ll pass out right here !” she snapped.  
“So eager…,” he teased her, before handing her the joint. “Any reason you drank that much ?”  
She took a drag on it and let out a sigh of relief. Almost instantly, her mind cleared and the feeling of dizziness left her. She knew that in the morning, she would have a massive hangover, but it would be worth it.  
“I’m stressed,” she lied.  
Pansy knew he didn’t believe a word of it, but he didn’t push it further.  
What Pansy called his “miracle remedy” was a mix of Mandrake’s roots and Belladonna’s leaves which had been dried (the witch didn’t know the exact process but she knew it involved dragonfire, which, in itself, was enough to discourage her from ever attempting to make her own), which Draco got from his French cousin. He called it “Heaven’s mix”. It had the particularity of sobering up the person smoking it. Well, not exactly sobering up, since Pansy felt very much buzzed, ecstatic and energetic, but she didn’t want to throw up anymore, which was a definite plus, and her mind was clear. The downside was that it increased the effects of the day after, which meant Pansy only used it in desperate cases, such as in that moment.  
Once she had smoked it entirely, she gave back the empty tube to Draco, who placed it back on his wand. She got up, and rediscovered one of the other effects of the mix ; her senses were heightened, the room seemed brighter than it was when she had entered it, there seemed to be more colors in her surroundings and she could actually feel Draco’s presence and heat and, to a lesser extent, those of the teenagers in the back room.  
She followed Draco as he rejoined their friends. She sat back between Hermione and Harry and - bloody hell - the bushy-haired girl was fire, she burned her even though they weren’t touching. Her presence was almost too much, but the raven-haired witch relished in it.  
Hermione leaned over and whispered in her ear:  
“You seem better.”  
Pansy nodded.  
“I feel better. What did I miss ?”  
The bushy-haired girl shrugged.  
“Not much, only truths. Harry told us Draco tops -”  
“Which was not something I wanted to know,” Pansy interrupted her.  
“-and,” the Gryffindor went on, ignoring her, “Neville confessed he thinks of Blaise when he masturbates.”  
“Blaise must have been thrilled,” the Slytherin commented.  
“He was. He actually blushed. And, before you came back, the wand had landed on Parvati,” Hermione concluded.  
They both watched as the dark-skinned witch stood up and took off her clothes. She had apparently been dared to join Lavender. Before she went off, she spun the wand, which landed on Padma. That’s the moment Seamus and Dean chose to come back.  
They both were rather flushed and dishevelled, confirming that they hadn’t only talked in that closet. Their clothes were askew and was that a hickey on Dean’s collarbone ?  
“It’s been a bit more than seven minutes,” Neville pointed out, teasing them.  
“Yes, well, no one came to retrieve us,” the Irish-boy tried to justify as he sat down. “But, please, don’t stop on our account, do go on.”  
Everyone turned to Padma, who chose ‘truth’.  
“Who’s the last person you’ve slept with ?” asked her sister.  
“Cormac McLaggen,” Padma mumbled, blushing.  
“A Gryffindor ? And a dumb one, on top of that ? Padma Patil, you disappoint me !” Parvati laughed.  
Her twin snorted and shooed her towards the pool, before leaning over and spinning the wand, which landed on Pansy. She hesitated for a moment, before choosing ‘dare’, trusting Padma not to be too horrible. The Ravenclaw seemed to weigh down her options, before making her mind up.  
“So, you’re gay, right ?” she asked.  
“Right,” Pansy confirmed, puzzled. Where was this going ?  
“And so is Hermione,” she continued, carefully.  
Pansy decided she didn’t like where this was going at all.  
“I am,” Hermione said cautiously.  
“Well, when Hermione kissed Harry, it wasn’t really enjoyable - no offense -, so let’s make you guys kiss!”  
The raven-haired girl was sick in the stomach. She had stopped denying she was somewhat attracted to her friend sometimes during the last ten minutes and felt it was too soon to do something like that. Thankfully, it was only a small kiss, it didn’t have to mean anything, nor last longer than twenty seconds, which was a rather short times. She silently questioned the Gryffindor by raising her eyebrow. The other witch nodded, so Pansy moved closer to her, her breath held, only inches away from Hermione’s and…  
“Wait!” Blaise interrupted. Immediately, Pansy froze ; this couldn’t mean anything good. “I think - and I’m sure you’ll agree with me Padma - that, after some of the last dares we’ve had, kissing is a bit… too easy.”  
“What do you suggest ?” Padma sounded interested.  
Blaise thought for a moment - although Pansy had a hunch that it was all an act and he knew exactly what he would ask them to do.  
“I reckon a bit of fondling is not too much to ask… Of course the shirts have to disappear. And they could go in the pool ! I’ve always found pools were a favourable scenery for that kind of scenarios !” Of course, it was all suggested in such an innocent tone that Padma was forced to fall for it. She enthusiastically nodded.  
“So, to recap, you want me to make out with Granger in the pool while groping her, all that while wearing nothing but my underwear ? It sounds a lot like the plot of a Muggle porn, you know that ?” Pansy snapped.  
“I wouldn’t know, I’m not familiar with Muggle porn,” Blaise defended himself and he looked so much like an angel of purity and innocence at that moment that Pansy would have strangled him had they not been surrounded by witnesses.  
Understanding that she was losing, Pansy got up and, reaching her hand out to Hermione to help her get up, led her to the edge of the bath. The raven-haired girl unbuttoned her shirt and was about to get in the pool when she noticed Hermione was clutching at hers, refusing to take it off.  
“It’s okay, Granger,” Pansy said soothingly. “It’s transparent, everyone has already seen your underwear. It’s very fancy!” she added with a wink.  
Reaching up, she unbuttoned her friend’s shirt, her fingers brushing lightly the skin under it. Hermione’s warm skin felt like electricity under her touch. Every one of her senses, which had been heightened by Draco’s Heaven’s mix, were on edge. Once they were both shirtless, they jumped into the pool, splashing everybody around them and breaking the awkwardness of the moment. The Gryffindor grinned up at Pansy, her hair which had dried up a bit once again wet and, taking advantage of the lightness in the atmosphere while it lasted, closed the gap between the two of them and kissed the raven-haired girl. Pansy, surprised at first, didn’t kiss back, but Hermione moved her lips softly against hers and the Slytherin had no choice other than losing herself in the feeling. The bushy-haired girl trapped Pansy’s lower lips between hers and sucked lightly on it, making Pansy gasp. Taking advantage of the raven-haired girl’s parted lips, Hermione slipped her tongue in the girl’s mouth, gently stroking the inside of Pansy’s mouth. After the surprise passed, the Slytherin finally began to kiss back and put her hand on Hermione’s neck, drawing their mouths closer together if it was possible. Her other hand stroked her friend’s side, going up to her elbow and gently smoothing it. Hermione’s hand came to rest on Pansy’s hip, before going down and cupping her butt, pressing their body together. The raven-haired girl could feel her friend’s full breasts against her own, tiny ones. The hand that was on Hermione’s elbow found its way right under the underwiring of her bra. Her fingers brushed the curve of her chest, before pushing the bra, uncovering the Gryffindor’s nipples. She played with them a bit, gently tickling them, which earned her a hiss from Hermione, who bit her lip. Pansy gasped and Hermione kissed her way down Pansy’s jaw to her neck, on which she laid open-mouthed kisses. The Slytherin moaned - actually fucking moaned -, which she mentally kicked herself for, since it was so unbecoming for a Slytherin. She forgot everything about reputation to be kept when Hermione started sucking on her neck like it was a fucking lollipop and - Salazar - she was going to leave a mark and Pansy could not stop herself from finding it oh so fucking hot. Finally - and far too soon according to Pansy - the timer rang. The Slytherin pinched Hermione’s nipple a last time, before pulling away from her.  
Hermione Granger looked amazing. Her lips were red and swollen, her hair dishevelled and she was panting. Her bra was still askew, revealing dark breasts and even darker nipples. Pansy couldn’t help but feel incredibly aroused.  
Noticing that her friend was staring, Hermione quickly put her bra back on, to Pansy’s great disappointment.  
“Oh, Merlin,” Hermione gasped.  
“What ?” Pansy asked, pulled back to reality.  
“I left a mark,” the Gryffindor marvelled. “I left a mark and it’s fucking hot.”  
Hermione didn’t swear often, but when she did, she had a good reason and Pansy Parkinson with a love bite of her doing was a fucking good reason.  
“Are you coming back or not ?” Blaise asked.  
Pulling her eyes away from Hermione, Pansy made her way back to the edge of the pool, Hermione following her. When they sat back down among their friends, their shirts back on, Pansy stretched out to spin the wand but was stopped by a gasp.  
“Well, ‘Mione, you didn’t do things by half ! That’s a hell of a mark you got there, Parkinson,” Harry observed.  
“Oh, you know me Harry, I tend to become rather good at the things I set my mind on.” She winked at Pansy, whose breath very audibly hitched.  
Trying to hide her discomfort, she finally spun the wand, which landed on Blaise. Pansy prayed to Salazar that he’d choose dare and good old Slytherin must have taken pity on her, because Blaise picked dare. She thought for a while, before the perfect idea came to her mind.  
“Give Longbottom a lap dance,” she ordered him.  
Pansy’s suspicions were confirmed when Blaise actually blushed. He was not indifferent to Neville’s charms, then, which was just what Pansy needed. Of course, neither boys backed out ; it was a matter of pride. Blaise stood up and walked to Neville.  
“Oh and Blaise, dear ? Do it properly,” Pansy added with a smirk.  
She watched as her friend started grinding on Neville, but quickly lost focus, the drugs still very much present in her system and demanding more of what she had had in the pool. Deciding that the drugs still weren’t enough, she poured herself another drink with the firm intention of getting drunk again.  
“Pans,” Draco called out in a low voice. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea ? I don’t have any more of that special remedy, you know.”  
She knew that it was strongly advised against to drink alcohol after consuming Heaven’s Mix but she really needed to feel both high and drunk if she wanted to get through the night without dying of either embarrassment or arousal. She downed her drink and set to making herself another one, ignoring her friend.  
She watched Blaise finishing his lap dance, leaving a panting, dishevelled, flushed and shirtless Neville with - strangely enough -, swollen lips.  
“Not bad, Blaise,” Pansy commented, disinterested.  
She noticed that most of her friends seemed a bit aroused, even Justin and Ernie who were straight to the core and, of course, Dean, who could no longer pretend he had no interest in boys, not after his recent encounters with Seamus. And, of course, there was a definite bulge between Neville’s legs, which, Pansy noted, Blaise could not stop looking at. He gulped audibly, his eyes greedy.  
Finally, Blaise seemed to realise he could not just spend the night staring at Neville’s crotch, and he took his turn in spinning the wand. It landed on Seamus.  
“Dare,” he said, hopeful. Pansy thought he probably wanted to go back with Dean in the closet, but Blaise did not oblige.  
“Strip,” he decided.  
Seamus did not even try to hide his disappointment as he stood up and very unsexily undressed himself, although, they could all notice how fit he actually was. Dean seemed particularly hypnotised by his bare chest.  
“Thomas, are you hard ?” Theo sneered.  
Dean blushed and adjusted his trousers so that they did not look as strained as they really were, but it was too late ; everyone had already noticed Seamus affected him more than he had let on so far.  
Seamus spun the wand, which pointed at Hannah. At that moment, Lavender and Padma got out of the pool, and joined them, wearing only their underwears. They cast a few drying charms on themselves, before finally putting clothes on, as Hannah chose dare.  
“How about you flash us ?” Seamus suggested, apparently thinking she would switch to truth.  
The red-haired gulped down her drink and stood up. She fiddled a bit with the hem of her shirt, before finding the courage to take it off. They all expected to see a bra underneath and were surprised to notice she did not wear any.  
Pansy choked on her drink and Hermione had to pat her back to help her breathe again.  
“Well, Abbott, damn,” Blaise breathed.  
She blushed but still held their gaze. Finally, she sat down and spun the wand, which pointed at Hermione. The bushy-haired girl finally tore her eyes off the Hufflepuff - let’s be honest - beautiful chest and tentatively said:  
“Truth.”  
Hannah’s drunken eyes lost focus for a while, before she finally slurred:  
“Who’s the last person you kissed ?”  
“Ugh Abbott! Boring!” Theo complained.  
“Shut up, Nott! Have you seen how she kissed Parkinson? I want to know who was the last lucky person to get that!”  
Theo stared at Hannah, amused at her state of drunkenness and the lack of credibility she got while both braless and drunk.  
“So, Granger ?”  
While the two drunk teenagers were fighting, Pansy was having a gigantic inner crisis. They couldn’t know that Hermione and her had kissed before the game because then, they would start asking questions about feelings and Pansy simply was not ready to answer them and absolutely did not want to be subjected to some sort of match-making. But if Hermione did not answer it would seem suspicious and they would think that the two girls had a secret relationship, which was not conceivable.  
“It was Pansy,” the bushy-haired girl said, trying to sound casual.  
“No, but I meant, before the game,” Hannah clarified. “Who did you last kiss before the game ?”  
Hermione’s unease deepened, but she still repeated casually:  
“Still Parkinson,” she said.  
Pansy stiffened, preparing for the wave of questions and disbelief that was bound to come.  
“Wait, that wasn’t the first time you guys kissed ?” Seamus asked. “Are you, like, together ?”  
“No, we’re not,” Hermione said, sure of herself. Pansy’s heart broke at her words. She had hoped, just a little, that, maybe, her friend felt something for her, she had dared hope and now everything was shattered and she wanted to cry. She couldn’t, though, she had to appear strong. She poured herself a drink and downed it.  
“When?” Draco had asked.  
“Right before the games, when we were in the pool,” Hermione was explaining. “And I’m not answering anything else because I’m not forced to, so drop it, please.”  
The game went on in a swirl of snogging sessions, lap dances, skinny dipping, body shots, awkward questions and a lot of alcohol drinking. Pansy lost track of how much she’d drunk and who did what to whom. She could only think of Hermione and her rejection and of how heart-broken she felt trying - and miserably failing - not to overthink it.

Pansy realised she must have fallen asleep when she was woken up by Hermione’s gentle prod in her waist. She raised her head, which was in her friend’s lap and quickly moved away from her, putting as much distance as she could between the two of them.  
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…,” she apologised.  
“Don’t worry, it’s okay,” Hermione reassured her.  
She looked around and noticed two things. The first was that they were alone in the bathroom and the second was that everything was dizzy and she had an urge to throw up.  
“It’s five, I think it’s time for us to go back to our dorms,” Hermione said softly.  
Pansy tried to stand up, but everything instantly went black and she fell forward. Hermione caught her elbow and propped her up.  
“Where… Where are the others ?” Pansy asked as they made their way out of the bathroom.  
“Neville and Blaise just left. We decided not to all leave at the same time because it wouldn’t do good to wake the teachers up.”  
“Good thinking. And you’ll have to tell me everything that happened while I was out, but not now because I’m still drunk and I won’t remember in the morning anyway.”  
They didn’t say anything for a while, slowly making their way up the staircases from the fifth to the seventh floor. Their common room was in the same corridor as the Room of Requirement, which was really rather useful for the Prefects, but made it difficult for the other students to sneak in unnoticed.  
“So… You drank quite a lot tonight,” Hermione pointed out.  
Pansy waited for her to get to the point.  
“Anything in particular you wanted to forget?” she asked casually.  
“Why does everyone keep asking that?” Pansy whined.  
“Maybe because we are a bit concerned,” her friend said.  
“Well you can shove your concerns up your…”  
Hermione tsked disapprovingly.  
“I just wanted to make sure it was not because of… You know, what happened in the pool,” the bushy-haired girl explained. “That you didn’t… regret it.”  
“Apparently you do,” Pansy commented.  
“What makes you think that ?”  
“Nothing,” the Slytherin dismissed.  
They finally arrived in front of Violet’s portrait.  
“Decorum Merlinus.”  
“Out all night and drunk, that’s not a very serious behaviour, young girls,” Violet mocked them.  
They ignored her and stepped in an empty common room. They silently went to their dormitories and Pansy collapsed on her bed, all dressed up and with her shoes still on. 

Pansy awoke to a migraine like she had never experienced before. She felt like a hammer was pounding on her brain while someone was sitting on her stomach. She stood up, intending on going straight to the bathroom and staying there for the next week, but as soon as she was in a vertical position, everything around her went black and, at the same time, the urge to throw up became greater. Blindly reaching out for her wand, she felt a basin on her nightstand, which she felt instantly thankful for, seeing as she suffered from another wave of nausea which she could not contained.  
“Better in than out,” she heard when she straightened up, feeling slightly better.  
Hermione was watching her, frowning worriedly.  
“You should lie down,” she advised and, in any other situation, Pansy would have objected but, at the moment, she didn’t feel strong enough to do so. With a flick of her wand, Hermione tucked the covers around her and cleaned her.  
“Here, sit up a bit,” she ordered as she knelt on the bed. Pansy obeyed, letting Hermione arrange the pillows and tying her hair in a messy bun. Pansy lied back down and the bushy-haired girl stroked her hair softly.  
Now that she didn’t need to empty her stomach in the immediate future, Pansy could plainly surrender to all of the other aches she was victim of. For a start, she felt incredibly hot, but was shivering.  
“Are you cold ?” Hermione inquired. “Should I cast warming charms ?”  
“No, a-actually,” she muttered, her teeth shattering, “I feel h-hot, to-too hot.”  
“You have a fever,” Hermione realised instantly.  
“Sh-Shit, I only have Pep-Pepper-Up and it won’t d-do any good in this ca-case…,” Pansy complained.  
“You could go to the Hospital Wing,” the Gryffindor suggested.  
“No wa-way, I’m not g-going there, I don’t w-want that old ha-hag fussing over a small fe-fever ! I’ll sleep it o-off and, you’ll se-see, I’ll be u-up and about by Mon-Monday !”  
Hermione seemed to think for a minute, before she resigned herself.  
“Then you’ll sweat it out the Muggle way !”  
“And h-how exactly do Mug-Muggles cure a fe-fever ?” the Slytherin asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice, but it was not as biting as usual, seeing as she was still shivering.  
“Strip down to your underwear,” her friend said as she stood up and took off her own clothes.  
“Wh-What ?” Pansy choked - or it was only her teeth shattering, it was hard to tell.  
Hermione sighed and stopped undressing herself to look the raven-haired girl in the eyes.  
“When I was little, that was what I did to sweat out a fever ; it will stop all that shivering bit.”  
“B-But why do y-you have to undress t-too ?”  
“Because that’s the way you’re supposed to do it !” she explained, as though it were obvious. “My body heat will help adjusting yours. Now, make some place !”  
Reluctantly, Pansy discarded her clothes and moved aside to allow Hermione with her under the covers. At first, she was stiffened and felt really uncomfortable, but then she felt her shivers stop and understood that this Muggle method really was working, so she started relaxing, and even leaning into Hermione. After a few minutes of silence, when they felt less uneasy at being almost naked in the same bed, Pansy spoke up :  
“I’m pretty sure I asked you last night to tell me everything that’s happened because I honestly can’t remember much…”  
She could speak without stuttering now that her fever had settled a bit and the pounding in her head had softened enough for her to have an intelligent conversation without wanting to enucleate herself.  
After refreshing her memory on all the things that had happened before they admitted that they had kissed before the game, she filled her in on everything else.  
“First of all, you know how Blaise was set on matching up everybody ? Well, it turned against him when it became obvious he had a crush on Neville… So, on every occasions we got, we made them do… things. You remember the lap dance ?” Pansy nodded. “Well, after that, they snogged, inflicted a few love bites to the other and I’m pretty sure they got each other off in front of us. And, ever since they left the bathroom yesterday, no one has seen them. They weren’t at breakfast this morning, nor were they at lunch…”  
“Wait… lunch ?” the raven-haired girl interrupted. “What time is it ?”  
“Half past one. You’ve slept for about seven hours.”  
“And you went to breakfast ? You’re mad ! It’s no surprise Blaise and Neville weren’t there, everyone was sleeping, nobody in their right mind wakes up at seven on a saturday !”  
“Actually, Draco was there too, as well as Theo and Padma. And I had an essay to write, since someone distracted me last night, when I had planned to do it.”  
“Draco is no example, he is a mad man, Patil is a Ravenclaw, their lot never sleeps, and Theo probably didn’t sleep either and did Merlin knows what Theo does for kicks! And I’m sorry, but you seemed to be having fun, had I known, I would have let you put a stop to it, and would have avoided this massive hangover !”  
“I had fun,” Hermione admitted begrudgingly. “I actually needed it, so thanks.”  
Pansy looked at her, incredulous.  
“Did I hear that right ?”  
Hermione shoved her playfully.  
“Don’t push me, I won’t say it again !” she warned her.  
“Alright, alright ! Now, please, do tell me what else happened,” Pansy ordered.  
“You really don’t remember, do you ?” Hermione asked, suddenly very much serious.  
Her friend looked at her, trying to figure out what she meant.  
“I don’t remember what ?” she questioned, confused.  
“During ‘Never Have I Ever’, you admitted that you, em, spied on someone who was indulging in personal pleasure…,” the bushy-haired girl started.  
“You can say ‘masturbating’,” Pansy interrupted. “And, yes, I remember. What about it ?”  
Hermione shifted, visibly uncomfortable.  
“Well, it was maybe a half hour before you fell asleep, you were completely hammered and, em, when Blaise asked you again, you told us everything.”  
The Slytherin tried to remain calm, but it was really difficult at this instant.  
“What exactly did I say ?” she asked carefully. She didn’t want to reveal anything she hadn’t revealed, she didn’t need to be further ashamed.  
Hermione shot her an apologetic look.  
“You told us that it happened more than once and who it was you watched.”  
Pansy’s heart sank.  
“Who did I watch ?” She hoped for a miracle, anything. She prayed to whatever deity was watching her to be merciful.  
“You said… You, em… Me,” Hermione finally admitted.  
The raven-haired girl’s last hopes shattered in million pieces. She knew. Hermione knew, and she must be disgusted by her, she might even not want to be friends with her anymore, let alone be more. Pansy wondered how she could have been so foolish as to believe that she had actually had any chances with the other girl, even if she was gay. How could the brains of the Golden Trio, Princess of Gryffindor and brightest witch of her age be attracted to her, the daughter of a reformed Death Eater, a Slytherin who had tried to hand the Golden Boy to the Dark Lord ? She realised how stupid of her it had been to let her guard down, even if only for a short while, because it had allowed her to be vulnerable. And now, all she could do was feel sorry for herself, knowing that she had deserved it.  
But, she realised, something didn’t add up. Why was Hermione in her bed - in her underwear, on top of that ? Was it the universe’s way of striking the final blow ? Of destroying her self-confidence once and for all ?  
“What are you doing here, then ?” Pansy asked, trying to sound as if she did not care, even though she knew she failed.  
Hermione looked up in surprise. She stared at the raven-haired girl for a while, opening her mouth, closing it and finally speaking :  
“Well, first, we’re friends and I’m actually a bit vexed that you thought I wouldn’t want to be friends with you because of that.”  
“And second ?” Pansy asked.  
“Second… I like you. And not as in ‘I appreciate you’. As in ‘I have a crush on you and it’s really getting out of hands’, so I couldn’t be mad at you even if I wanted to and…”  
She was interrupted by Pansy’s mouth that had crashed against hers, shutting her up efficiently. Instantly reacting to the kiss, Hermione reached up and cupped the other witch’s cheek with her hand, while pulling their bodies closer together with her other hand. The raven-haired girl slid her knee between the Gryffindor’s thighs and trapped Hermione’s left leg between hers. Before she even realised, she started grinding against her friend’s thigh, but immediately stopped when the bushy-haired girl gasped.  
“No, it’s okay, you can keep going,” Hermione panted, breaking the kiss for a second.  
Pansy hesitated an instant, before saying :  
“I would rather take things slow, if that’s okay with you.”  
The other witch nodded, and she obediently kept her hands above her waist and didn’t attempt to remove any of their last remaining pieces of clothing.  
A while later, after having spent hours cuddling, snogging or just lying in silence, Pansy’s stomach growled and she decided that she was able to eat something without throwing up immediately. They got out of bed, dressed up and went out of their dorms, in the hope of going to the kitchens and snatching something from the house-elves (which took some convincing on Pansy’s part, seeing as Hermione was still rather reluctant to use the house-elves), but were stopped in the common room at the sight of their friends, sitting on the floor in a circle with a small pile of goods in the center.  
“‘Mione ! Pans ! Come sit with us !” Harry exclaimed. He was, like the night before, sitting cuddled up with Draco.  
They kindly obliged, all the while still holding hands. They sat closely together and, while Pansy reached out for an apple, she examined closely the people sitting around.  
There was everyone from the party the night before, with the addition of some others from their dorms, such as Luna and Ginny, or Millie. She noticed that Seamus’ head was resting on Dean’s shoulder, the tall boy having wrapped his arm around him and congratulated herself for seeing it coming. Neville and Blaise were sitting close from one another, and Justin and Tracey were in a corner, talking in low, intimate voices.  
“So, Pans ? How are you ?” asked Draco. He knew the effects his weed had when mixed with alcohol, having experienced it first hand more than once.  
“Better than a few hours ago,” she answered while chewing her apple. “Although I wish we didn’t have to go back to class on Monday…”  
“That has nothing to do with your hangover, though,” Hermione teased her playfully.  
Pansy sneered, but could not contradict her, so she settled on eating.

Hermione slipped silently in the Prefects’ bathroom, hoping to surprise its occupant. She walked on her tiptoes to the edge of the pool towards the raven-haired girl sitting with her legs in the water, her back to her and seemingly oblivious to her. Once she was right behind her, she bent, holding her breath and preparing to push the other girl in the water. She was about to give a hard shove when…  
“Don’t even think about it,” the raven-haired girl’s voice rang, steady and full of warning.  
“How did you know ?” Hermione sighed in disappointment, sitting next to Pansy. “I was sure I had been quiet…”  
“You have, this time,” the Slytherin conceded. “It was far better than last time, at the very least.”  
“Well, what gave me away then ?” the bushy-haired girl asked, frowning.  
Pansy turned and looked at her for the first time since the other witch had arrived. She hesitated for a while, but then deeming it was safe to say it, she spoke up :  
“Your scent.”  
Hermione raised an eyebrow in surprise.  
“I didn’t know I had a strong one. Is it your way of telling me that I stink ?” she asked jokingly.  
Pansy considered laughing along, but decided it was something she wanted Hermione to know.  
“Not a scent in that way. Your body odour. You smell of roses and parchments. And something else, which isn’t like anything else I’ve ever smelt before.”  
Hermione smiled up at her, leaned in and kissed her softly on the mouth.  
“That’s nice, I guess,” she said.  
“It is,” Pansy confirmed. “And… that’s actually what Amortentia smelt like to me when we brewed it last week.”  
She held her breath, knowing full well what her confession entailed. Admitting that was the same as saying she loved the Gryffindor. If Hermione deemed it was too early in their relationship - and was it even a relationship ? Pansy wasn’t sure anymore -, she could lose her and, if she was perfectly honest, she would rather die than lose her.  
“You know what I used to smell in Amortentia ?” asked the other witch after a while of staring at her with an indecipherable look in her eyes.  
“If I remember correctly from sixth year, it was something like parchments and trees ?”  
“Grass,” the girl corrected. “And Ron’s hair, which I obviously didn’t mention in class that time, or ever.”  
Pansy was silent, not knowing what to say.  
“When we brewed it again last week, I smelt something I didn’t quite recognise. I think I had smelt it occasionally, but I couldn’t remember where and what it was, so I went to the greenhouses and sniffed every flowers there was, because I wanted to find them and offer some to you.”  
When Hermione paused, Pansy turned to her, an eyebrow raised.  
“What a hopeless romantic !” she mocked her. “So, what did it turn out to be ? Don’t tell me it was Dittany or, worse, Asphodel ?”  
“I know what those smell like !” protested the bushy-haired girl. And, reaching in her pockets, she pulled out a bunch of colourful flowers, handing them to the Slytherin.  
She looked at them only a second, but it was enough for her suspicions to be confirmed.  
“Pansies,” Hermione said.  
Pansy dropped the flowers on the ground and pulled Hermione in a fiery, passionate, mind-blowing kiss. She pulled out, opened her mouth, but the words refused to come out. Hermione cupped her cheek with one hand, brushing her hair away from her face with the other one.  
“I know,” she whispered. “I do, too.”  
And Pansy knew that she shouldn’t be scared of losing Hermione anymore, because the other girl wasn’t planning on leaving any time soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this ! Leave a comment if you feel like it, feedback is always appreciated !


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